Minutes of the Meeting of 19th October 2021

LOCATION

The Avenue Methodist Church, Rutland Avenue

PRESENT

Ivan Cicin-Sain
Jhon Munoz
Mike King
Tony Thornby
Sheena King
Lesley Hatton
Angus Massie
Steve Morton – Wycombe Friends of the Earth
Andrea Baughan – Mayor of High Wycombe

MINUTES OF LAST MEETING

MK – re: minutes of our last meeting – there is one correction ie. the cafe at Hughenden should be called The Village Store Coffee Shop (a community cafe) in order to distinguish it from the cafe at Hughenden Manor.

Bob’s Memorial Service

It was commented that there was a very warm feel to this service. Bob’s godson, Wesley, revealed that Bob had received an award from the UN for his work on the distribution of smallpox vaccines for children in Nepal/Bangladesh.

Contribution from Mayor Andrea

AB – has been interested in Fairtrade for many years and has lived in High Wycombe for about 15 years – a fan of the Oxfam shop and Ruby Moon (who are very supportive of the mayoralty and charity events). The Mayor’s current charities are the Epilepsy Trust and Ducklings (Stoke Mandeville & Wycombe Hospitals’ children’s toys).

AB is interested in organising a tea party event to raise awareness of FT. There is due to be a table-top sale in the Spindle & Thread pub on 27th November and there may be a spare table if we wanted to make enquiries (recommends to contact them via Facebook). It is £10 to book a table and this money goes to the Wycombe Homeless Connection. There may also be other possible future dates.

There will also be the Mayor’s Carol Service in December in All Saints church and AB is happy for Wycombe FT to arrange the refreshments. AB and her deputy are both willing to attend events to lend their support.

Wycombe Friends of the Earth

St M – there is a Global Day of Action for COP26 on Nov 6th and Wycombe FOE are holding events in Wycombe town centre on this day. They will be asking people what they are doing to combat climate change and taking a video which will be sent to Glasgow. Other groups are also involved, including Solar Streets. There will be a market stall beneath the Guild Hall from 10.30am onwards.

TT – asked if there will be any web presence that we could point people to?

St M – yes, there will be.

Population Matters

I C-S – there will be a meeting of Population Matters in November which will be posted on Facebook – venue and date to be arranged. He is also involved with Wycombe Food Hub and Trevor Snaith will be giving a talk on food waste on 3rd Nov at 7.30pm at the Friends Meeting House. People need to notify them if they would like to go or it is possible to watch on Zoom.

IT issues

TT – 3 documents from MK have been uploaded to our website.

MK – the logos that he used in the documents were obtained from free sites.

TT – there has not been much traffic. It might be better to have news of upcoming events, rather than just reporting on past events.

Treasurer’s report

SK – there has been no change to our balance since last meeting (£201.75). Thanks to MK for paying the £10 fee to have our stall at the Pann Mill event at which £156 was raised for Traidcraft from the sale of goods.

Pann Mill event

MK – re: our stall at Pann Mill open day on 12th September – we made some good contacts at this event. Wycombe Sound were not there but there was a steady flow of people. We met Marion Lyons from St Andrews, Hatters Lane – they are trying to gain Eco Church status. We also met Fay Ewing who is on the Wycombe Community Board – she gave us her e-mail address and invited us to their next meeting.

AB – Fay is very pro-active and helpful. The Community Board is where different groups can put in funding requests.
e-mail: hwcb@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

SM – could send her an e-mail and perhaps attend a meeting

Grecia/Coope Victoria Partnership

MK – re: banner. Thanks to AM for revising the banner.
The design was approved by everyone in the meeting.

MK – JM sent an e-mail to congratulate Grecia on their 200th anniversary

JM – will also send our congratulations to Coope Victoria for their 78th anniversary. They held a celebration for their workers.

Schools link

MK – originally sent letters out to Wycombe High/Royal Grammar/John Hampden/William Ramsey/Highcrest but only received a response from Highcrest so far. However Highcrest have been very enthusiastic and MK had a meeting with 6 teachers there (2 other teachers sent apologies) on Friday 8th October. They want to make Spanish compulsory across all age groups and would like to use the Costa Rican link as a lever to do this.

MK – suggested that if a formal launch of the schools link is arranged, we could invite the High Commissioner of Costa Rica.

AB – would also be willing to attend

SK – Highcrest was the school that Bob went to

MK – Highcrest has invited him in to give talks to students

LH – this will also spread the information on FT to the parents. Highcrest has a good sixth form

MK – the school is eager to start on this project soon

JM – the linking of the schools was a target that was talked about with Maria at the Cardiff presentation.

MK – Colette from Highcrest and Laura from the Bilingue school in Grecia will now get in touch with each other to take this forward. Colette has promised to keep us updated.

LH – the best time for schools having a ‘time window’ is after the exams finish in the summer

SK – Fairtrade Fortnight might also be a possible time for the schools to do something

CHURCHES MINI-TEAM

MK – there has not been much response yet to the letters he sent out re: churches registering/re-registering their FT status with the FT Foundation.

LH – churches may be very busy at the moment

AB – there is a new Pastor at the Elim Church (off Buckingham drive) – Robin Fenner
St M – the vicar at All Saints is retiring soon

LH – she did get in touch with various people re: re-registering and they will be doing this. The wife of the Methodist minister at Marlow is a Traidcraft rep and will be holding a stall at The Avenue church soon (31st October) and it may be possible to hold a Churches Together event at some point, similar to the event at Christ the Servant King in March 2020. In the early summer, at a Climate Sunday service at The Avenue, they had a speaker from A Rocha UK who spoke about environmental issues.

MK – did hear back from Beryl at Sunnybank Methodist Church in Downley and they are hoping to re-register

Other issues

AB – will contact people in the council re: organising a flower bed in the town on the theme of FT

COP26 is taking place October 30th – 13th November

St M – Amersham Town Council are planning an event for the end of COP26
The International FT Towns conference will be on-line from 18th – 20th November (organised by Swiss Fair Trade)

MK – it is possible to sign up for sessions – they are free of charge

Next meeting

Tuesday 23rd November

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